Bedtime Story (1941)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Alexander Hall

Writers:

Horace Jackson (story) &
Grant Garett (story) ...

Release Date:

25 December 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Playwright tries to stop his wife from retiring so he can star her in his next play.

Plot Keywords:

Divorce | Playwright | Desk Clerk | Waiter | Conventioneer

Cast

Fredric March	...	Lucius 'Luke' Drake
Loretta Young	...	Jane Drake
Robert Benchley	...	Eddie Turner
Allyn Joslyn	...	William Dudley, Jr.
Eve Arden	...	Virginia Cole
Helen Westley	...	Emma Harper
Joyce Compton	...	Beulah
Tim Ryan	...	Mac, the Policeman
Olaf Hytten	...	Alfred, the Butler
Dorothy Adams	...	Betsy, the Maid
Clarence Kolb	...	Collins, the Actor
Andrew Tombes	...	Billy Wheeler aka Pierce

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #7344) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

B.P. Schulberg Productions

Quotes:

[last lines, at the end of the play's premiere]
Luke Drake: It's a smash hit, Eddie -- it'll run five years!
Jane Drake: Ladies and gentlemen! This will have the shortest run of any of Mr. Drake's plays...
[gasps from audience]
Luke Drake: No, no, no. Five years!
Jane Drake: It will be closed in the early spring by an act of God. And I'm sure Mr. Drake hopes it will be... a boy.
[Luke faints]

Twilight of screwball comedy:

All the previous commenters are right: you'll find some things to like here. Exactly which things they are will depend on what you're hoping for. I think Fredric March is terrific as Luke, for the same reason other folks didn't enjoy him so much -- he's not what you're expecting, perhaps because his buttoned-down good looks make a great foil for his deviousness. Here, in mid-career, March's role is the kind Harrison Ford occasionally takes to lighten up. Benchley's Benchley (that's a plus) and Eve Arden has a great turn as an actress who must absorb withering directorial scorn for no good reason. Loretta Young is where this potentially fizzy movie goes flat in spots. She's ladylike to a fault.

After I saw this movie on TCM I decided it must've been written as a Powell-Loy vehicle -- theirs is the kind of chemistry that would've put more zip in this script. But March's performance is a treat.